Samsung Reportedly Lands Orders From Apple for 14nm A9 Processor

Samsung, teaming up with Globalfoundries, has landed orders for its 14nm FinFET process from Qualcomm and Apple, reports DigiTimes. Industry sources say related foundry services will begin in early 2015.

The 14nm products will be rolled out from Samsung's Fab 8 in New York, said the sources, adding that Fab 8 will have an installed capacity of 60,000 wafers a month for the 14nm process.

The 14nm LPE (low power early) process was verified in February and will apparently going into risk production in Q4 2014, followed by small volume production in early 2015.

It's unclear how Apple will distribute its A9 processor orders as Intel is still a potential contender. In addition, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is also looking to retain Apple's orders, include A9 orders, by advancing into 16nm FinFET processes and rolling out a 16nm FinFET Turbo process tailored to Apple's requirements. TSMC will have a total production capacity of 900,000 and 1.3 million wafers for its 20nm and 16nm processes in 2015 and 2016.